20 Years Later
by MsJennyKelly
Summary: "And I swear had it not been for that sad look on his face I would've pushed him away."  My version of Fang and Max meeting up 20 years later.  Don't worry it has a happy ending with Fax!  Read and review please!


**Okay I know people have done this but this is my idea of what might happen 20 years later when Max meets Fang at the cliff. Fang doesn't have another flock so it's just a Max and Fang fic. Read and enjoy.**

**Max's P.O.V**

And I swear had it not been for that sad look on his face I would've pushed him away.

It was all too much. For years I've been pushing down these feelings, ignoring the tugging at my heart every time his name came up. Now every single stupid emotion that I had carefully controlled came at me with such a force that if his arms had not been around me I would've collapsed.

However at this moment I wanted to shove it all away. His arms these feelings and just go back to the safe comfort of my Flock. I wasn't ready for any of this. I had waited twenty years for this, had counted down the days these last couple of weeks, even put on a little makeup for this event and I wasn't even ready.

Everything had changed since he left. At the beginning Nudge had quieted down, Iggy stopped joking, Gazzy smiled less, and Angel had grown distance. We were are hurt and healing from the wound that was created when he left, and me being leader had to put on a brave face, had to pretend day after day that I was fine, and to cry by myself at night when everyone was asleep. We healed of course, not to say it still doesn't hurt every once in awhile, but we healed almost completely.

Over the years things had quieted down. The war between us and Itex was over, but we always had that lingering feeling that they were still around underground somewhere. We thought that since it had ended he would come back earlier; however all of our attempts of contact with him were feeble and just gave us wasted hours and crushed hopes. All there was left to do was wait.

Waiting was the hardest part for all of us. Not knowing if he was safe, if he had found a different flock, if even remembered the deal he made with us to meet up at the cliff. Yes, waiting was the hardest part simply because we didn't know.

After twenty years you can't expect everything to be the same. We still remain close but we've separated, grown apart. Iggy and Gazzy live together in a separate apartment while Nudge, Angel, and I all live together in another one. Now we couldn't live with my mother all our lives so we acted as normal as mutant bird-kids could act. We homeschooled and got caught up on our education (we were a lot farther behind than originally thought). The next step after graduation was college. None of us were quite sure what we wanted to do with our lives, so just deciding what school we wanted to go to was difficult for us.

Eventually we figured it out and each got our various degrees. Iggy's has his in Environmental Science, Nudge got Early Childhood Development, Gazzy got American and English Literature (no one saw that coming), and Angle is still working on her Psychology. And I got my Nursing Degree. That's right me, the great Maximum Ride, was a nurse. Despite the common misconception that nurses worked long hours, having to deal with all the gross stuff in the hospital, and working with the most difficult patients it was always something I thought I would be good at. Once I got past the first couple of years getting all the crappy shifts, getting paid very little, and being constantly undermined by doctors I got to the point where I was respected and doctors actually asked for my opinion instead of just giving me orders.

So life had moved forward, but not a day went by when I didn't think about him.

A few weeks ago I had come home late after I took the nighttime shift at the hospital, and went to the kitchen to heat up some dinner that Nudge had left out for me. I tried to be as quiet as possible so I wouldn't wake Nudge or Angel but Nudge had been waiting up for me.

She had come down slowly and quietly. I had just sat down and was ready to eat my dinner when she walked into the kitchen. I smiled at her and she smiled back and sat down slowly. It was silent for awhile while I ate my food and she sat staring at the table.

"How was your day?" I asked after the silence started to make me uncomfortable.

"It was fine, Bobby tried to rip my hair out today when I told him to stop pulling Jessica's" Nudge replied and I chuckled, Bobby was always getting into trouble in Nudge's classes. He had gotten a little more behaved since started school, but not by much. I had met him a couple times before and he could be sweet when he wanted to.

Awkward silence followed and finished my dinner.

Finally Nudge spoke:

"It's coming up in a couple of weeks you know" she said quietly without looking up.

"I know" I replied just as quietly. My throat had suddenly gone dry.

"Are we going to go?"

I was quiet. While I had thought of the moment every single day since he left I never really decided whether or I would actually. Would he even show up?

"I think it would be best if I went alone" I let out a breath I didn't even know I was holding.

"Why?" I had known how much Nudge, how much _all_ of the Flock had wanted to go to meet up with Fang again. It had been tough convincing Nudge to stay behind.

"If we go and he doesn't show up" I started out slowly "I don't want you guys to be hurt. It will be easier if I go by myself and see whether or not he comes" I finished finally looking up at Nudge and taking a deep breath.

"But if you go alone won't that be harder on you?"

"Nudge I don't want any of you to have to deal with this."

We argued for a few more minutes back and forth. Nudge was insisting that I shouldn't go alone and I was insisting that I should. Finally she gave in when she found out I wasn't going to budge. It was about 4 weeks before the meeting date and it was the longest 4 weeks of my life.

I started marking the days on the calendar, and taking days off for the time it would take me to fly down and fly back up with or without him. I was constantly being distracted at work and was distant whenever I was at home. My stomach was constantly in knots and several times I thought about not going. Each time I thought of this my mind came up with the same reason I wanted to go. I had to do it for my Flock. And the other reason I had to go that I was secretly denying was that I missed him.

I left 3 days before the meeting. It was the first time in a long time that I flew longer than five minutes and just to stretch my wings. Having full time jobs for going to school full time we only flew to stretch our wings and they weren't for long intervals of time. They were five minute trips that no one really enjoyed because they always felt rushed for fear of being spotted by normal people from the ground.

The weather was nicer than I expected so I arrived a day early. I stayed in a hotel for a night and went out to a small diner for dinner. Every time someone would walk in I would turn my head and see if it was him. It never was but I was holding on hope that I wouldn't have to wait all night alone to see him again.

I was looking into my soup when a body slid into the chair in front of me. I didn't lift my eyes but I could see that he wore dark clothing and smelled like pine needles and dirt. I took a deep breath before looking up.

Blue eyes met mine and I release my breath and looked dejectedly down in my soup again.

"What's a pretty lady like you doing all alone tonight?" He had a thick southern accent and I could tell he was one of those guys who wouldn't leave me alone until I threaten his physical well being.

"I believe I was eating dinner" I replied hoping that I wouldn't be required to hit this guy.

"Well how about after dinner you and I go to this little bar I know and have a little fun" He leaned forward and I could smell his breath. It didn't smell bad, minty sort of and I kind of liked it. I leaned forward and took a serious look at his face for the first time.

He wasn't ugly, not by a long shot. He had nice face, nothing special just kind of simple. He had sandy blonde hair and blue eyes. He wore a leather jacket over a plaid shirt along with some denim jeans and boots. I was half tempted to say 'screw it' and go with this guy.

"I don't think so" I replied pushing my food away and standing up to go pay the bill.

The guy followed me to the cashier while I handed the man a 20 and told him to keep the change.

"Oh come on, don't be like that sweet heart" he had followed me outside. It had just gotten dark and was cold enough I could see my breath. I pulled on my coat and started heading towards the rental car I was using for this trip.

"I'm meeting a friend" I replied reaching for my keys and sticking it in the lock.

"Hey, I'm probably better than your friend" God does this guy ever quit?

"Look I'm pretty sure you're a great guy and probably any other night I would go with you buy tonight I'm tired and I just want to go to sleep. If you don't step away from me in about 10 seconds I'm going to start screaming my freaking head off" I replied finally getting into the car. He backed away looking a little disgruntled at first but he seemed to recover. As I was pulling away I saw him flip me off in the review mirror. I laughed at the irony of that gesture.

_Written line break because my stupid computer doesn't know how to make a line break._

I slept restlessly that night and when I did fall asleep I had nightmares of him not showing up and me standing at the entrance of the cave alone with hawks around me. I woke up way to early and over thought everything I did. Would he like my hair up or down? Will he care what I dress in? Will he be dressed up?

After a couple of hours of freaking out I drove out to a secluded area. I stepped out of my car and walked deep into a forest where there was a familiar clearing. I remember seeing back when we rescuing Angel and I got shot. I remember thinking it would be the perfect place to take off if I didn't have a bullet wound in my wing. When I reached it I took a deep breath and took off.

At first when I took off I didn't pay attention to much of anything. I just felt the wind on my face and in my wings blowing my hair and feathers all over the place. I closed my eyes and just felt everything.

However soon enough I had to open my eyes to make sure I was going in the right direction. I started to see the familiar cliff face and could see the dark spots where hawks were sure to be resting. As I got closer I half of me hoped that he was already there waiting, while the other half of me hoped he wasn't so I would at least have time to compose myself before seeing him again.

As I land it was clear to see I was the only human for at least a couple of miles.

This was probably the worst part of the waiting. These were the minutes that I had to wait to find out whether he had forgotten about us or whether he still thought of us as family. My heart was beating about a mile a minute and I felt like my stomach was going to upchuck my light breakfast at any moment.

A couple minutes later I heard rustling and a slight thud and the light in the cave flickered. I had leaned myself against the wall and was looking at the ground when I saw the shadow over take the cage. I wasn't quite ready to look and face both my dream and my nightmare. I stared at my feet for what seemed eternity before I took a deep breath and turned my face.

I saw brown eyes.

My knees gave out and I suddenly found myself falling before being caught and held up by two arms. I inhaled his scent a mix of leather, mint, and earth. I gripped onto his jacket tightly scared that if I loosened my grip he would vanish.

All the emotions I had been holding back and that were building up suddenly came up and overfilled. Love, sadness, loneliness, frustration, heartache, and hurt all came flooding back, tears welled up in my eyes and I ground my teeth to keep them from falling. I buried my face in his shoulder and took a deep breath trying to calm and steady myself. His arms tightened around me.

Suddenly one emotion took over and I couldn't stop it.

Anger.

I suddenly looked up and shoved him off me.

"You are a stupid, inconsiderate, asshole!" I yelled. Tears were streaming down my face but I no longer cared. All the pent up anger and frustration suddenly came out and I couldn't stop the words from leaving my mouth.

"How could you just leave us like that? Why would you leave when we needed you the most? Do you know how scared I was every day after you left? I didn't know anything about where you were headed or who you were with! And on top of that I had to take care of a broken hearted Flock!" I finally stopped and took a good look at Fang for the first time in 20 years.

He had aged of course, I expected that. What I didn't expect was how different he would seem. He had a stronger jaw and it looked like he was developing wrinkles. His hair was shorter but still came to his ears and had the same dark brown color to it. He had bags under his eyes like he hadn't slept for days, and I could tell that he had facial hair that he cut. He wore a leather jacket over a dark blue T-shirt along with some dark pants and converse. He had grown considerably taller and know I came face to face with his chest.

But somehow under all of it I could still see the 16 year old Fang that I remembered from when I saw him 20 years ago.

"I'm sorry" was his reply.

"You're sorry? That's all you have to say after 20 years?"

"No I have a lot more to say but I won't start until your done."

"I'm done, now talk" I whispered refusing to meet his eyes. There was a slight pause where he cleared his throat before he spoke.

"I didn't want to leave. I wouldn't have left if I didn't believe it was best. Every day I was gone I thought of you and the Flock. I couldn't stand not knowing if you were safe or not so I kept tabs. Max it's not like I completely forgotten about you guys."

"Yeah right."

"I'm serious. Nudge works as a kindergarten teacher at Hazelbrooke Elementary. Gazzy worker as an editor for a local newspaper, Iggy works trying to find safer ways to dispose of trash, Angel is studying Psychology, and you work as a nurse at Mercy Hospital."

It was silent and I could feel tears in my eyes burning. My throat felt tight and clenched my teeth and curled my fists. I tried so hard to hold on but everything fell apart. I broke down and I was suddenly in Fang's arms.

And I swear had it not been for that sad look on his face I would've pushed him away.

I felt his finger under my chin and my face was brought to his and our lips met. It felt so familiar yet so new. I had kissed many guys over the 20 years of separation but they never felt right. Never felt the way Fang did and that's why I never really went out on dates with guys, because they could just never compare to Fang.

When he pulled away he took my hand and pulled me in.

"This doesn't mean we're okay, not by a long shot."

"I know."

"And you still have to talk to the Flock."

"I know that too."

"I understand why you did it."

"What?"

I lifted my head from his shoulder "I said I understand why you did it. You felt the need to protect the Flock and you couldn't do that if you were around. I thought about it myself when we thought that chip in my arm was a tracker. I just could never get the guts to do it. So I understand on some level how you could leave us." I was looking directly into his eyes.

He pulled my close "Thank you."

"I remember being bent over the sand cut up my arm with a seashell and you stopped me. While you were with us you were probably the only thing that kept me sane for the longest time. And I'm glad that your back" I whispered before taking his hand and turning towards the light.

**A/N okay so if it's 20 years later they've got to have jobs and I could just see Iggy being a scientist, Nudge a teacher, Max a nurse, and Angel using her mind reading skill to her advantage in Psychology. Gazzy I made have the Literature degree because it's kind or random and I thought you'd get a kick out of it.**

**The ending I think can be better. I might fix it later, but right now I'm too tired to fix it or proof read so if there's any mistakes let me know and I'll try to fix them.**

**Read and review!**

**~JennyKelly **


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